I tread, gives me grace, for every trial feeds me with a living bread.
Though my weary steps may falter, and my soul a thirst may be.
Gushing from the rock before me, lo, a spring of joy I see.
All the way my Savior leads me, oh, the fullness of His love.
Perfect rest to me is promised in my Father's house above.
When my spirit clothed immortal, wings its flight to realms of day.
This my song through endless ages, Jesus led me all the way.
Amen. Good to see you, brother. Jesse, would you up us up with a word of prayer?
Lord, thank you, Lord, for being able to gather here today.
Jesse, bless the service, bless the safety. In His name we pray, amen.
Amen. Our second song will be a song number 134, My Anchor Holds.
Song number 134, My Anchor Holds. Song 134, My Anchor Holds.
Let's hold this together on the first.
Though the angry surges roll on my tempest-driven soul,
I am peaceful for I know, wildly though the winds may blow,
I've an anchor safe and sure that can evermore endure.
And it holds, my anchor holds, blow your wildest vennel gale.
On my bark so small and frail, by His grace I shall not fail.
For my anchor holds, my anchor holds, mighty tides about me sweep.
Perils lurk within the deep, angry clouds or shade the sky.
And the tempest rises high, still I stand the tempest shook.
For my anchor grips the rock, and it holds, my anchor holds, blow your wildest vennel gale.
On my bark so small and frail, by His grace I shall not fail.
For my anchor holds, my anchor holds, I can feel the anchor fast,
as I meet each sudden blast. And the cable though unseen,
bears the heavy strain between. Through the storm I safely run,
till the turning of the tide. And it holds, my anchor holds,
blow your wildest vennel gale. On my bark so small and frail,
by His grace I shall not fail. For my anchor holds, my anchor holds,
troubles almost wound the soul, grease like billows o'er me roll.
Tempt or seek to lure astray, storms obscure the light of day.
But in Christ I can be bold, I've an anchor that shall hold.
And it holds, my anchor holds, blow your wildest vennel gale.
On my bark so small and frail, by His grace I shall not fail.
For my anchor holds, my anchor holds.
Good evening, everybody. Welcome to Sherriff Foundation Baptist Church for our evening service, midweek service.
Let's take our bulletins and go through the announcements.
If anybody needs a bulletin, just lift up your hand.
One of the askers will make sure you get a bulletin there.
All right. On our front cover, we have our verse of the week.
It says, Seek ye the Lord while He may be found. Call you upon Him while He is near.
That's Isaiah 55, verse number 6.
And on our inside page there, we have our service time is 10 30 a.m. for our Sunday morning service.
3 30 p.m. for our evening service. Thursday Bible study is at 6 30 p.m.
We've moved our Exodus series to our Thursday night and we'll be in Exodus 37 tonight.
And our solving times are listed below.
We had some soul owners go out today. Do we have any salvations?
I didn't see any. Yeah, we had two salvations. Praise God for that.
And if you look down, you can see the other opportunities for so many times.
And so there'll be some so many times tomorrow.
There's Longview or Kelso Longview and then Gresham.
So those will be posted in the group tomorrow.
There's Saturday soul winning at 12 30.
Of course, Sunday at 1 p.m.
Our praise report, you can see the salvations, attendance and all that stuff from last week.
And then this week we have evangelist Jim Weed here from SFBC, Winnipeg.
And he's here tonight with us. So make sure you get around to shake his hand and say hello.
And he's brought his wife, Judy, with him and his son Josiah.
So they're going to be here all weekend with us.
So I'm sure you'll get a chance to hang out and fellowship and do some soul winning.
And he's going to be preaching for us at three thirty p.m. on Sunday evening.
So make sure you're here for that service.
And he's going to be getting ordained here pretty soon in June, as long as he doesn't screw up from now till then.
And he's doing a great job up there.
And they're trying to get moved into their building.
They got it approved, but they're just still trying to get everything all set up there.
But they're still holding services in Winnipeg at this time.
And so they're doing a great job up there.
They have a Bible study group that's going in Calgary right now.
And they're running, what, around 20 people somewhere around there.
And had someone new show up just recently.
So they're doing great.
So looking forward to hearing what God's put on his heart for us for Sunday afternoon.
And then next Saturday is starting our one year anniversary celebration with our church plant up in Seattle.
And Pastor Bruce Mahiel will be there on Sunday preaching for us on both services.
That'll be nine a.m. and five thirty p.m.
But on Saturday we're having a soul winning marathon.
So scratch that eleven a.m.
So we're meeting at nine thirty a.m. for coffee and donuts.
And there'll be in the Seattle group there'll be a...
We'll probably just probably add the people that are coming from our church to that group temporarily while everything's going on.
But we can just actually just also put the information of where we're meeting in our main soul winning group so everybody knows.
Who here is going to Seattle next weekend for sure?
Like Lord willing anyway.
Okay.
I'm going.
But Sean you're not going though right?
Okay.
So.
Alright.
Brandon you're not going.
Okay.
Alright.
I just want to see.
Okay.
Alright.
So that's all happening next weekend.
And so we'll have some food and fellowship after the service.
After the p.m. service.
So we're actually going to be going out soul winning ten thirty to one.
One to two thirty is launch.
Two thirty to four thirty is the afternoon soul winning time.
So we'll have all the information coming out next week for all the places.
The first place we're going is right across the street from the church building so you can't mess that up.
I think we're meeting at a park or something close by because we can't really use the building unless we've rented it for those specific times.
So I think that's why we're not meeting at the church building but we're meeting at a park that's close.
So we're going to just get those apartments as good and done as we can.
We'll have some lunch somewhere.
And then so all that will be all the details of that will be all ironed out.
And I'm planning on doing some baptisms.
There's three people that want to be baptized.
So I'll just probably take them back to the pool and dunk them there.
I'm not going to ask for permission because the last time I did that someone said no.
So I'm just going to do what I've always done in the past and just do it and say what?
I rented a room like what are you going to do about it?
Anyway they might kick us out but I don't know.
Hopefully not.
But we're going to baptize a few people.
Hopefully they'll be there on Saturday.
If not we'll probably just have to do it on Sunday.
But anyway that's the plans for the next couple of weeks there.
And of course we've got a homeschool field trip on May 7th.
That's at the Portland Zoo where Remy, Josh and Neil were born.
And then, no I'm just kidding.
That'll be at 930 a.m.
And we'll meet at the parking lot.
And I think my wife's already purchased all the tickets.
So she said she did the last call type of thing.
So yeah.
So I think all that's taken care of.
So that's the meetup time.
If you have any questions ask my wife.
And then May 24th through 26th is the Chicago Soul Winning Preaching Event.
If you have questions about the hotel, where to get the hotel, all that stuff.
I'm going to ask you to contact sfbcindy at gmail.com.
That's brother Justin.
He's the church plant leader in Indianapolis and he has all that information.
So just message him and then he'll get that information to you.
So we are going to have a preaching event on Friday night.
And so I'll be preaching before Pastor Shelley.
And also there will be a soul winning time on Friday with a good gap in between so you can get some dinner.
And Saturday we'll be preaching in Cicero.
And Cicero is about 35 minutes away from where most people are probably going to be getting hotels.
So just plan on that on Saturday.
Chicago is huge.
So when you're looking at it on a map you might not get that.
But it's really a dense population.
And we're not even going deepest into Chicago.
The traffic is just horrendous there apparently.
Cicero and you know some areas are so ghetto that they're too ghetto for soul winning basically.
So I know that some of you adrenaline junkies out there.
You really want to go to the worst places.
But when the guys that are from there are getting asked what gang they're in when they're soul winning.
And being approached like that then you know if they're worried about that neighborhood then we might be a little bit worried about that neighborhood.
I guess real bad.
So anyway not Cicero.
We're going to like a it's you know it's good soul winning.
So that's what we're looking for.
We want to get the most people saved that we can.
So and there'll be opportunity to use Spanish if you know Spanish and all that kind of stuff.
So anyway that's the plan there.
Email Justin the preaching venue.
He can give you the address for that too.
So the preaching venue we've secured it's all good done and ready to go.
So then of course if you want to go to the ordination of brother Jim Weeb it's in Winnipeg.
It's the seventh through the ninth.
Pastor Berzen is going to be preaching that Friday night.
And then we'll do the ordination on Sunday.
So all the other stuff is stuff you already know about the mother baby room dad baby room all that stuff.
All the rules and regulations and the tithing information and all that good stuff.
And all the birthdays have been saying for and anniversaries and all that good stuff.
So that's all we have for announcements.
So let's go ahead sing another song and then we'll receive the offering.
All right our next song is song number three hundred fifty five.
What a friend we have in Jesus. Song number three hundred fifty five.
What a friend we have in Jesus.
Song three five five. What a friend we have in Jesus on the first.
What a friend we have in Jesus.
All our sins and griefs to bear.
What a privilege to carry.
Everything to God in prayer.
Oh what peace we often forfeit.
Oh what needless pain we bear.
Oh because we do not carry.
Everything to God in prayer.
Have we trials and temptations.
Is there trouble anywhere.
We should never be discouraged.
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful.
Who will all our sorrow share.
Jesus knows our every weakness.
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Are we weak and heavy laden.
Cumbered with a load of care.
Precious savior still our refuge.
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do thy prince despise forsake thee.
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
In his arms he'll take and shield thee.
Thou wilt sign us all is there.
Amen. Good to see you brother Sean.
Would you bless the offering for us.
Pastor.
I pray that you bless us offering.
You bless both the gift and the gift.
In Jesus name Amen.
Thank you.
Okay, go ahead and open your Bibles to Exodus chapter 37.
Exodus 37, if you don't have a Bible there should be a Bible under the seat in front of you.
Exodus 37.
Exodus 37 the Bible reads,
And he made staves of Shittimwood and overlaid them with gold.
And he put the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark to bear the ark.
And he made the mercy seat of pure gold.
Two cubits and a half was the length thereof and one cubit and a half the breadth thereof.
And he made two cherubims of gold.
Beaten out of one piece he made he them on the two ends of the mercy seat.
One cherub on the end on this side and another cherub on the other end on that side.
Out of the mercy seat made he the cherubims on the two ends thereof.
And the cherubims spread out their wings on high and covered with their wings over the mercy seat with their faces one to another.
Even to the mercy seatward were the faces of the cherubims.
And he made the table of Shittimwood.
Two cubits was the length thereof and a cubit the breadth thereof and a cubit and a half the height thereof.
And he overlaid it with pure gold and made thereunto a crown of gold round about.
Also he made thereunto a border of an hand-breadth round about.
And he made a crown of gold for the border thereof round about.
And he cast for it four rings of gold and put the rings upon the four corners that were in the four feet thereof.
Over against the border were the rings, the places for the staves to bear the table.
And he made the staves of Shittimwood and overlaid them with gold to bear the table.
And he made the vessels which were upon the table, his dishes and his spoons and his bowls and his covers to cover withal of pure gold.
And he made the candlestick of pure gold, of beaten work, made he the candlestick, his shaft and his branch, his bowls, his knops and his flowers were of the same.
And six branches going out of the sides thereof.
Three branches of the candlestick out of the one side thereof, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other side thereof.
Three bowls made after the fashion of almonds in one branch, a knop and a flower, and three bowls made like almonds in another branch, a knop and a flower.
So throughout the six branches going out of the candlestick, and in the candlestick were four bowls made like almonds, his knops and his flowers,
and a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, according to the six branches going out of it.
Their knops and their branches were of the same, all of it was one beaten work of pure gold.
And he made his seven lamps and his snuffers and his snuff dishes of pure gold, of a talent of pure gold made he it, and all the vessels thereof.
And he made the incense altar of Shittimwood, the length of it was a cubit, and the breadth of it a cubit, it was foursquare, and two cubits was the height of it, the horns thereof were of the same.
And he overlaid it with pure gold, both the top of it and the sides thereof round about, and the horns of it.
Also he made unto it a crown of gold round about.
And he made two rings of gold for it, under the crown thereof, by the two corners of it, upon the two sides thereof, to be places for the staves to bear it withal.
And he made the staves of Shittimwood, and overlaid them with gold.
And he made the holy anointing oil, and the pure incense of sweet spices, according to the work of the apothecary.
Brother Sean, will you pray for us?
Heavenly Father, I thank you for this day. I thank you for this opportunity to be in church today, Lord.
I pray that you would fill us all now with your Holy Spirit. Please help us to be attentive unto your word, Lord.
I pray that you would fill Pastor Thompson with your Holy Spirit. Please help him to preach the Holy Ghost.
Please help him to give him the wisdom, the power, and the fullness of the Holy Ghost. I pray that you would please stand.
Amen. All right, we're in Exodus 37, and bringing back my models here.
No, we're not having a Jewish festival or anything in here.
And I just wanted to, we're back into the furniture section here in Exodus.
So, let's see, we're, I'm going to have you turn to Exodus 25, but go ahead and keep your finger here.
But just to quickly recap where we're at here, the last couple chapters we've entered into the phase where they're past the planning stages.
Moses has already been told by God to, you know, the plan and the pattern in which they're supposed to make all these things.
And I've kind of already preached sermons about what these things represent.
And so now it's kind of retelling everything, but it's also, they're making these things now.
So, they're putting all these things together and actually building them now.
And so basically the first part was kind of the engineering stage where the plans are being put forth and God's telling them how to make all these things.
And now God has put His Spirit upon two men, and we met them in our last, the last time we went through this.
And it is, their names are Bezalel and Aholiab of Dan.
So Bezalel of Judah and Aholiab of Dan, and they are special men that were given special talents of the Holy Spirit of God.
And not just one part, but multiple things where God has given them special knowledge and wisdom from the Holy Spirit.
Talents or gifts, you might say.
And both tribes, I kind of showed a verse last week where both tribes were kind of prophesied to be judges of the people by Jacob in the book of Genesis.
So it kind of makes sense that he chose someone from Judah and someone from the tribe of Dan.
Obviously Dan kind of goes off into obscurity after we see Samson take over.
But again, both tribes were prophesied basically by Jacob and, you know, they were given that special blessing in Genesis.
And those men are chosen to oversee and do the work and also to train others to help in these things and to get the work done.
So, and last week I also talked about the Sabbath day.
And basically they're still supposed to keep the Sabbath as they're doing all this stuff, so God kind of made a point about that.
But tonight I just really, I mean, I really just want to choose to preach about the mercy seat.
And I really haven't focused on that yet. I've preached about how Christ put his blood upon the mercy seat.
But I've never really zeroed in on the mercy seat itself and what it is and kind of what it looks like.
And we don't really know exactly what it looked like.
But if, you know, the description of the Ark of the Covenant, I'm not saying it looked exactly like this either.
But I think it actually probably didn't look like this necessarily because I think the wings, you know, touch together probably.
But you can't see this probably very well, but it has kind of like a little, like this has like a little like pattern right here or something.
But the Ark of the Covenant is where the testimony and all, you know, Aaron's rod that butted, the tables of stone, the Ten Commandments,
the old, basically what represented the Old Testament was put into that ark.
And then God said to make a seat and to put that on the top and those cherubims were supposed to cover the mercy seat.
Let's look at Exodus chapter 25 verse 8. The Bible says,
And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.
So what's the purpose of the sanctuary?
Brother Ramon, where'd you go? Right here. All right.
Just go ahead and plop it right up here, Brother Ramon.
So I bought the, yeah right here's fine, thank you.
So basically this is like, it's again not exactly probably what it looked like, but this is the, you know, the outer court.
This is the altar where they would do the sacrifice is this part right here.
And then you had the tabernacle and then you had the inner where the veil was.
And so basically I just got that so that people could see the model of it.
You can come up and look at it after the service if you're interested.
But I bought these extra things just online just so you can kind of see what they might have looked like.
Obviously this one has like a little, some weird little Jewish designs on it or whatever.
I don't, it doesn't say anything about that in the Bible.
And then of course the ark, it did have the staves that were overlaid with gold and all that.
But the seat is kind of like the lid of the tabernacle and it had like a golden crown around it.
So anyway, it says, let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them.
So what was the purpose of this so that God could come and meet with them and dwell among them, right?
According to all that I show thee after the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall you make it.
So he's talking about making it after the pattern of the tabernacle, the pattern of the instruments.
So everything that was done in the Old Testament with all these things including the office of the priest,
including the office of the high priest, was patterned after what is going to be in heaven.
So the high priest changed to Jesus, of course he's the high priest now forever.
And then of course in the New Testament we are all priests because we are believers.
So men and women, priests, we are the priests, we serve the Lord and we are the go between the unsaved and we try to bring people to Christ
and we serve God with our lives, right?
So now skip down. It says, and look that thou make them after their pattern which was showed thee in the mount.
So now that word pattern, it means a form or model used for imitation.
So many women in here sew or are familiar with sewing and sometimes you have sewing patterns that you copy after and cut after.
And of course men, you're no stranger to these things where you have a certain pattern or a mold that you'll use over and over again.
You have the original and everything that's made after is made after that original mold.
So this is what a pattern is. So God's saying, hey, the pattern that I show you, that's what you're going to make all this stuff after there.
So there's something that God showed them that's the real and the actual thing that these things are supposed to represent, right?
Now let's turn to Hebrews chapter 8. This is just a little short introduction to, and I'm mainly just going to focus tonight just on the mercy seat and kind of what all that means.
So now look at Hebrews 8.1. It says, now of these things which we have spoken, this is the sum.
We have such an high priest who is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens.
So we have a high priest who is set at the right hand, and what's it say? Of the throne of the majesty in the heavens.
So that's Jesus Christ and he's at the right hand of God the Father, right?
And so it says the throne. Do you think that it's talking about a real throne or a pretend throne? It's an actual throne, right? Do you believe that?
Okay, it says, a minister of what? What's it say there? The sanctuary. Is that sanctuary talking about in heaven or down here?
It's in heaven, isn't it? And it says, and of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not men.
So is the pattern patterned after something in heaven? Yes, it is.
And so it's the one that the true tabernacle, the one that God made, the one that God pitched in heaven, not men.
For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices whereof it is of necessity that the man, or excuse me, this man have somewhat also to offer.
For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law, who serve unto the example.
You see that? That word the example and shadow of heavenly things.
So it is a foreshadowing. All the things that we see, all this stuff here, all the stuff in the Old Testament is an example and a shadow of heavenly things.
As Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle, for see, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount.
So there's no question that all these things that God said to make are patterned after something that's already in heaven.
I mean, isn't that what it's saying? Isn't that what Hebrews is saying? Very clear, right?
So this, you know, is kind of basically the intro of that main topic that I kind of want to preach about tonight, that topic of the mercy seat.
So, you know, basically, if that's all I have time for, I mean, if I have time to throw anything else in there, I might throw some other stuff in at the end of the chapter here.
But for the most part, that's what I want to focus on.
So now let's get back into Exodus chapter 37, and we'll read through, I guess, the first nine verses here.
So look at verse number one. So verse number one says,
And Bezalel made the ark of Shittimwood, two cubits and a half was the length of it, and a cubit and a half the breadth of it, and a cubit and a half the height of it.
And he overlaid it with pure gold within and without, and made a crown of gold to go round about it.
So, you know, that's, you know, he made it just like, you know, I'm not saying it looked just like this, but then he, he, so he, the crown around it is talking about this part right here.
And then it says that he cast for it four rings of gold, which would have been the place where you stick the staves in to be able to carry it,
to be set on the four corners of it, even two rings upon the one side of it, and two rings upon the other side of it.
And he made staves of Shittimwood and overlaid them with gold, and he put the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark to bear the ark.
And he made the mercy seat of pure gold, two cubits and a half was the length thereof, and one cubit and a half the breadth thereof.
So, the mercy seat, he made the mercy seat of pure gold. Verse 7.
And he made two cherubims of gold, beaten out of one piece, made he them, on the two ends of the mercy seat.
So, I mean, again, this might be a poor, you know, representation, but the two ends of the mercy seat put the two cherubims, the two angels.
And we don't know exactly what they look like. When the Bible describes what a cherubim looks like, it's not a fat little baby angel with balled up fists that's cute and cuddly or whatever.
It's actually a very scary creature that people fell down and were terrified of, right?
So, Satan himself was a cherub. He's called the anointed cherub that covereth in the book of Ezekiel.
So, these cherubs, their wings cover the mercy seat where God, you know, and this is the place where God comes down and dwells and operates with his people in the Old Testament here.
So, anyway, let me read on here. It says, one cherub on the one end, on this side, verse 8, another cherub on the other end of this side, out of the mercy seat, made he the cherubims on the two ends thereof.
And the cherubims spread out their wings on high and covered with their wings over the mercy seat, with their faces one to another, even to the mercy seatward.
So, it's just explained that their faces, they faced each other, their wings faced each other, and their faces faced seatward.
So, wherever this seatward is right here, you know, this whole thing is supposed to be the seat, but seatward is towards the middle.
So, and then it says, were the faces of the cherubim. So, let's go, let's see, I think I already had us go to Exodus 25, but I think I might need you to have, yeah, I need to have you go back.
I should have had you keep your place there. Go ahead and keep your place here in Exodus 37 and go back to Exodus 25, 21.
Exodus 25, 21. I should have had you keep your place there, but it's not too far to go back, so don't cry about it. We're in a Bible study.
Alright, Exodus 25, 21. So, this is just explaining what they were supposed to do, how they were supposed to build it right here.
But it says, and thou shalt put the mercy seat upon the ark. So, this is explaining, where does the mercy seat go?
It says, above, upon the ark. And in the ark, thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee.
And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat.
So, where does God come? He comes from above the mercy seat and he communes where? Right here. Right where the mercy seat is, right? Isn't that what it says?
And between the two cherubims. So, between the two cherubims is where? Right here, where the mercy seat is, right? Isn't that what it's saying?
Which are upon the ark of the testimony of all things which I give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.
So, I mean, I'm going through that just to kind of explain to you where the mercy seat is. It's obviously between the two cherubims.
And when you think of the word seat, what do you think of? What do you think of? You're in one right now, right?
I mean, everybody's in their seats, right? It's kind of nice to have a seat, isn't it?
But obviously there's other things that would be considered a seat. Like, the county seat is the seat where government is normally in a county.
You know, in America we have counties, and in those counties it's like, Morro County, Oregon is the seat, the county seat is Heppner.
Alright, I don't know, it's probably Portland here, I'm not sure, but, well, in Oregon across the bridge there, you got Multnomah County, whatever.
So, sometimes it just means the seat of where the government power is, but even in that seat, isn't there a judge that sits in a literal seat and pronounces judgment upon those things?
So, is God sitting, when He sits in heaven, what is He sitting on? Is He sitting on a throne?
And so when He's judging things, He's judging from a seat, I mean, it kind of seems to me like, you know, the power and where God rules from is from heaven,
in this place, and where Jesus had to go to present that sacrifice, that blood sacrifice to God, was in this place.
The mercy seat, and I'll prove that to you, look at Hebrews chapter 4 verse 14.
You're like, well pastor, you're not really teaching me anything I've never known before, well, okay.
But sometimes if you already know this kind of stuff, then it's good to kind of go back over it, but, let's look at Hebrews chapter 4 verse 14.
It says,
And seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Let us therefore come boldly unto, what's it say there? The throne of grace.
So, the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
This is just a really interesting verse, I've read that verse many, many times.
But I never really kind of put it together that this is talking about that mercy seat, isn't it?
Because, I mean, think about it, come boldly unto the throne of grace, so what's another word for grace?
Mercy.
Mercy, isn't it?
And what's it called? The mercy what?
Everybody with me, everybody awake here?
The mercy seat, right?
So, let's come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy.
So it's kind of, it's interchangeably using mercy and grace here, it says, and find grace to help in time of need.
So, what is another word for grace?
Mercy.
What is the seat called again?
The mercy seat.
And so, the only way you get mercy is from the grace of God through the blood of Christ that was placed on the mercy seat by Christ himself.
That's what I believe.
I believe that he actually literally went to heaven with his literal blood, and literally put it there,
and because that was the final part of our redemption.
That had to be done.
It's not, you know, it's not just the perfect life, it's not just the resurrection and all that stuff,
and I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I do believe that he literally had to put his blood there.
It's not just the death.
You know, there's other parts to our salvation, there's other parts to the gospel,
but when you think about the Day of Atonement, what month does that happen in the Jewish calendar?
It's the seventh month, isn't it?
And it's done after, you know, it's done the seventh month on the ninth and tenth day, right?
At even.
And it's a fasting day, and then they make the atonement.
And we'll go through that, but I just think it's really interesting that, you know,
you tie that Old Testament mercy seat to the New Testament, you know,
that it's all grace, it's all through faith, and it's still, you know,
our mercy seat is actually that blood of Christ.
There's no more need for these priests to keep going in every year and doing all this stuff.
Now let's go ahead and turn to Romans chapter 3.
Romans chapter 3, I think this is a really interesting set of couple verses,
and we've probably used Romans 3.23, you know, several hundred times in our gospel presentations.
I use it every time I preach the gospel.
So I preach the gospel a lot of times, and I'm sure you have too.
But these secondary verses here after Romans 3.23 are awesome verses.
It says, Romans 3.24, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
whom God has set forth to be a propitiation.
And that word propitiation, what's it mean? It means an appeasement or a satisfaction.
Right? Through faith in his blood.
So, that's not an accidental thing, that's not a mistake there.
It says faith in his blood, and you're like, well I thought you were supposed to have faith in Jesus.
But faith in his blood, that his blood, what?
Is able to save us.
Is able to be applied on our account, and that it will cleanse away our sins, right?
Literally. Not just spiritually, not just figuratively, but literally his blood that was shed was able to do that.
To declare his righteousness for the remission of sins.
Now, I've talked about this before, but like if you say, I have cancer but it's in remission, what does that mean?
Your cancer has stopped and you're no longer actively showing new cancer cells or whatever.
So I mean, it's easy for us to understand that because we understand that word from cancer mainly.
But when your sins are in remission, that means they're taken away from you, right?
So, remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God.
Now forbearance means this.
Now think about this, God is the judge, and he has to judge righteously.
But he also can choose to forbear his judgment in certain cases, can't he?
So just like David, David, God said he will not die.
Nathan told him, you're not going to die even though he killed one of his top soldiers,
committed adultery, tried to cover it up.
He didn't kill David though, did he?
But Saul was not able to be forgiven.
That's a picture of the Old Testament versus the New Testament.
But think about this, forbearance is the action of refraining from exercising a legal right,
especially enforcing the payment of a debt.
What is the debt that every single person owes?
It's death.
We all have earned death through our wages of sin,
and so because of that, our judgment is death.
But because God is able to forbear that judgment,
why is he able to do that?
Because Christ put his blood right here.
And that blood was the appeasement.
That blood was the propitiation or satisfaction of God's wrath.
And therefore it's called the mercy seat.
Because he's able to give people mercy there,
because Christ did that and paid for that with his blood.
And so, why is it called the mercy seat in the Old Testament?
Because the Old Testament saints get mercy also, don't they?
Don't they get in on what we're part of too?
Yeah, of course. It backdates everything, and it goes towards the future.
So, there is actually controversy about this though.
About Jesus actually taking his literal blood to heaven.
And I just recently watched a video where John MacArthur,
old Johnny Mac, the devil himself, a devil,
lordship, salvation, repenting your sins, Calvinist,
repenting your sins, dispensational dirtbag that he is.
He really has this heresy that's gone back decades,
where Jack Hyles condemned him many years ago over this,
and he got kicked off like 55 radio stations for teaching all this stuff.
You know, back when things were a little less liberal than they are today,
and now he's like the star of radio or whatever.
And then people just love him because he just teaches so well.
You know, he teaches so well, he teaches that the blood isn't magical.
It doesn't have magical properties. Well, we don't think that either,
but the blood does save.
And I just read you a verse that says faith through his blood,
and that, you know, his blood cleanses us from all sin.
Peter says it's the precious blood of Christ.
It is important. It isn't just something to take trivially.
And, you know, he's like, well, somebody said like, you know,
you could bludgeon someone to death and his death would have atoned for our sins.
No. It wouldn't have.
Because that's not, that wouldn't have completed the right picture, would it?
Because the real picture is a bloody and gruesome death.
You know, just being bludgeoned if there's no blood,
then it's not, it wouldn't have atoned for our sins.
Because Jesus had to bleed out. He bled for us.
So, but there's other people that believe this, too,
that you don't have to, you know, Jesus, like he didn't literally take his blood.
Now, John MacArthur said there's these people that say, you know,
that we have a blood fetish is what he said.
We have a blood fetish in that, you know,
that he said he's heard of people saying that Jesus took his blood in a bowl up to heaven
and that every time someone gets saved, the bowl dumps out
and then saves them or whatever,
and then it fills back up in the bowl and dumps over the next person or whatever.
I've never heard anybody teach that before.
I don't believe that for one second.
Because the Bible's very clear. He put it there one time.
It was just once. That's it. That's all it took.
So I don't believe that. I think that's ridiculous.
But I was looking where other people, like I just typed in that question, like,
did Jesus literally put his blood on the mercy seat?
And you'd be surprised at some of the answers that you see from people.
And a lot of them are from these go back to the Greek,
you know, Calvinistic type people.
And, you know, it's funny, they'll believe a lot of other miracles that happen,
but they just think that Jesus taking his blood to heaven is just so,
it's just so bizarre and weird or something.
But why is the picture there? Why is the pattern there?
Why was that implemented in the Old Testament?
Why did they have to do everything after the pattern that God showed Moses?
Why did they have to do that then?
Why did the priest, after every year at the Day of Atonement,
have to walk in with blood on his right ear, on his right thumb, on his right toe,
and he had to kill these different sacrifices and go back in and go back out.
He had to walk in with these coals and put incense in between the holiest,
you know, into the holiest place.
He could only go there once a year.
They had to do everything exactly perfect or the priest would have died, right?
So it's just a bizarre thing that all those pictures are there, but it's not literal.
I mean, I almost kind of liken it to how Jehovah's Witnesses will say,
well, he didn't literally rise from the dead, it was a spirit body or something.
And so people will say it's like, oh, it was spiritual blood or something.
It wasn't actual blood that he took up there.
It's just his death.
Well, I get that his death secured our salvation,
but it wasn't just his death.
It was his blood also.
And, you know, the blood, the life of a person is in their blood.
The blood is the life, isn't it?
So there's that to think about.
Let's look at a couple of other verses here.
You know, obviously, so I'll just say this.
So go ahead and turn to Revelation chapter 21 while you're turning there.
So basically you have these people that mock this idea that Jesus took his blood and placed it on the mercy seat.
So some even say that there's not a literal mercy seat,
that this just is a figurative thing to say it's just heaven, okay?
And that there isn't like a literal throne, there's not a literal tabernacle and all this stuff.
I mean, do you think Paul was wrong in Hebrews when he was saying that there was a literal tabernacle that God pitched?
Or was that just a spiritual tabernacle that wasn't really real?
I mean, that doesn't make sense.
Make it after the pattern I showed you after the things that are up in heaven.
Oh, psych, they're not really there.
That's just really spiritual.
It's just symbolic meaning or something.
No, I don't think so.
And so you have these people saying this that basically that heaven is in general
is that perfect, unattainable place that's pictured.
So we can't go to heaven that it's unattainable without Christ.
And I'll say this, I agree that that is a picture for us.
That yes, it is true, we can't go to heaven without Christ,
and heaven is unattainable and is a holy place,
and we do have to get through the veil which is Christ.
I get that.
But I also believe that there is a literal throne that God the Father sits on.
I believe there's a literal place that is pictured from the pattern given to Moses,
like the Bible says.
Look at Revelation 21 and 27.
It says,
And there shall no wise enter into it anything that defileth,
neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie,
but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.
So I would agree.
So there's nobody's going to go to heaven that is defiled or sinful.
God's just not going to allow that to happen.
Now go to 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 9,
because I do, you know, I do believe that that is true,
that unless you're saved, you're not going to go to heaven.
And the only way you're saved is by the blood of Christ.
I believe that.
Blood is applied to us.
I get that.
But I do also believe that that picture had to literally be fulfilled.
So 1 Corinthians 6, 9 says this,
and these are familiar verses to us,
but it says,
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?
Be not deceived, neither for fornicators, nor idolaters,
nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves of mankind,
nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers,
nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
And such were some of you.
But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified,
but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus
and by the Spirit of our God.
So the but there is that saved people will be there
if they're washed, if they're sanctified, if they're justified.
Justified is that you're justified by Christ.
You're sanctified and set apart by his blood.
You're washed in the blood of the Lamb, so to speak.
So I want to ask some questions here,
and so hopefully I'll get some participation from everybody that's had a hard week here.
So let me just ask these questions.
I got eight questions here I'm going to ask,
and some of them are two-parters,
and they're not hard, okay?
Number one, did Jesus literally have to leave glory
and become a sinless child born of a literal virgin?
Yes or no?
And did that literally happen, yes or no?
Okay, good answer.
All right, so far you guys are 100%.
All right, number two, did Jesus have to literally live
and remain perfectly sinless to his dying breath?
Yes.
You believe that he literally had to do that?
Yes.
Okay, number three, did Jesus literally have to fulfill
all scripture concerning himself?
Yes, amen.
To the T, right?
Number four, did Jesus literally have to fulfill the Passover
as being the Lamb of God slain on the right day,
at the right time, literally as it says in the Bible?
Yes.
Okay.
Number five, did Jesus literally have to go to hell
for three days and three nights?
Yes.
Okay.
Number six, did Jesus literally have to bodily rise
from the dead into a glorified, eternal body?
Yes.
Okay.
Number seven, did Jesus literally have to put
his literal blood on a literal mercy seat
as it is described in the Day of Atonement,
or was it just figurative?
I mean, why would all those other things be literal
and that's not?
That does not make sense.
To spiritualize that, I mean, obviously I'm not saying
that that's damnable heresy to say that it wasn't literal
or he didn't literally take his blood up there,
but I mean, why would everything else be possible,
everything else would be true,
but then all of a sudden he just decided
to spiritualize that part.
That's just weird.
So, yeah, number eight, why would everything
have to be literal, but that part is only figurative?
Why?
That doesn't make sense.
And again, that's the last thing he had to do, right?
In John chapter number 20,
what did he say to Mary?
Mary comes to him in John 20 verse 16
and Jesus saith unto her,
Mary, she turned herself and saith unto him,
Rabboni, which is to say master.
Jesus saith unto her, what's he say?
Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my father.
Why would that be wrong?
Why would he not want her to touch him?
Because he would have been defiled.
The sacrifice would have been defiled.
He had to be undefiled.
He rose from the dead.
He had not yet ascended to his father.
Did he allow other people to touch him later on?
Yes he did.
Before his final ascension into heaven, yes he did.
So why would it make sense that he wouldn't just allow her to touch him right here?
Because he's gonna ascend and put his blood upon the mercy seat
in between the time that he goes and meets him in Galilee.
So it says,
But go to my brethren and say unto them,
I ascend unto my father and you to your father,
and to my God and to your God.
Unto my father and to your father.
And to my God and your God.
So, I mean,
obviously there's no,
I guess, smoking gun where it says
that Jesus picked up his blood
and floated up into heaven and put it there.
But like there's plenty of verses
that say that,
I mean that basically are saying that.
And if all those other pictures had to be fulfilled,
and then all of a sudden that one's just not literal,
that just doesn't make sense.
Because the people had to do those things to the T
in the Old Testament, right?
Let's turn to Leviticus chapter 16.
Leviticus chapter 16.
Now this is gonna explain what they have to do on the Day of Atonement
and I don't have time to go through the whole thing
because it's a long, it's a lot of things.
So they have to make an atonement for themselves,
they have to make an atonement for their families,
they have to make an atonement for the people,
they have to make an atonement for the tabernacle,
I mean there's just all these atonements happening,
there's two goats, one has to be let go,
one has to stay, whatever.
There's just a bunch of stuff that they have to do, right?
But I'm just gonna show you a few things here
about what the Day of Atonement is, okay?
So Leviticus 16 verse 11 says,
And Aaron shall bring the bullock of the sin offering
which is for himself,
and shall make an atonement for himself
and for his house,
and shall kill the bullock of the sin offering
which is for himself.
Now Jesus, when he entered in,
he had no sin.
So he, obviously, his atonement for,
he didn't have to have an atonement for himself
because he was sinless, right?
But Leviticus 16, 12, and it says,
And he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire
from off the altar before the Lord.
So he had to literally go out here,
take some coals from this altar,
and then go in, back into there,
and it says,
And his hands full of sweet incense,
beaten small and bring it within the veil.
So inside the building here,
inside the holiest place,
you had to have the coals of fire,
the handful of incense,
and then it says,
beaten small and bring it within the veil,
and he shall put the incense upon the fire
before the Lord,
that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat
that is upon the testimony that he die not.
So he has the fire of the altar,
he puts the incense in,
he puts it right here,
in between the cherubim,
on the mercy seat,
that smoke goes up,
because if he doesn't do that,
what's gonna happen to him?
He's gonna die, isn't he?
And it says,
And he shall take of the blood of the bullock,
and sprinkle it with his fingers upon the mercy seat,
eastward.
Now remember when we had eastern,
I was like telling you all those old English words,
you know, about east and all this other stuff,
but it's just interesting that it's eastward.
And what side was Judah on
in the congregation of the Lord?
On the east side, right?
Their banners were on the east side.
And so when the sun rises,
it rises in the east.
So there's all this symbolism for it, right?
But it says that he's to take his finger,
with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward,
and before the mercy seat,
shall sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times.
So blink, blink, blink,
with his finger seven times.
Now why seven times?
Well I mean seven in the Bible
is kind of like the number of completion.
He created the heaven and the earth in six days,
and he rested on the seventh,
and it's also the number for perfection, right?
So, you know, obviously Christ was,
his sacrifice was complete,
and his sacrifice was perfect, wasn't it?
So, I mean, I guess that that was probably
what that would represent.
Verse 15.
Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering
that is for the people,
and bring his blood within the veil,
and do with that blood
as he did with the blood of the bullock,
and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat,
and before the mercy seat.
And he shall make an atonement for the holy place,
because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel,
and because of their transgressions in all their sins.
And so shall he do
for the tabernacle of the congregation,
that remaineth among them
in the midst of their uncleanness.
So, I mean, he's picturing what Christ would do,
but he himself is an unclean vessel himself.
So he has to take, you know,
he has to do all these different sacrifices.
If you read the whole chapter,
he does a lot, he's not just doing one sacrifice,
he's doing multiple sacrifices
for multiple things here.
But all of it's, you know, but Christ,
his is different.
Look at Hebrews chapter 9.
Hebrews chapter 9.
So, I mean, this is a big, intricate thing
that has to be done once a year
on the day of atonement.
So, let me ask you this.
When did Jesus do,
when did Jesus put his blood on the mercy seat?
Was it, it was after
he rose from the dead, right?
So, literally the last thing he had to do.
Did he have to do anything after that?
I mean, obviously he's coming back again,
you know, to purchase the,
you know, to get his purchased redemption.
You know, we haven't been called up to glory yet,
but as far as everything that's necessary
for our salvation, everything's done.
So, Hebrews 9.18 says,
Whereupon neither the first testament
was dedicated without blood,
for when Moses had spoken every precept
to all the people according to the law,
he took the blood of calves and of goats
with water and scarlet wool and hyssop
and sprinkled both the book and all the people,
saying, this is the blood of the testament
which God hath enjoined unto you.
Moreover, he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle
and the vessels of the ministry.
So everything that's in here,
anything that's pictured here,
he's putting blood all over this stuff
and all over the people.
I mean, just think about how gruesome that probably was.
But, again, it's the picture, right?
And almost all things are by the law
purged with blood,
and without shedding of blood is no remission.
It was therefore necessary
that the patterns of things in the heavens
should be purified with these,
but the heavenly things themselves
with better sacrifices than these.
So the thing in heaven,
Christ's blood was necessary
to be cleansed with those things, right?
That's basically what it's saying.
So the things on earth could be
with the blood of bulls and goats and all that stuff.
Those things were an atonement,
a covering, but it didn't remove sins from people.
But when Christ went to the actual
place that everything's patterned on,
his blood was the only sacrifice
that would be acceptable on that mercy seat.
So it says,
For Christ has not entered into the holy places
made with hands,
which are the figures of the true,
but into heaven itself,
now to appear in the presence of God for us.
So God is the judge.
He appears before God.
God, where did God appear to Moses?
Where did he appear?
At the mercy seat, right?
So Christ comes before the mercy seat.
He puts the blood on the mercy seat.
In the presence of God for us,
he enters into heaven.
He enters into the holy place,
the real holy place,
the actual holy place.
And it says,
Nor yet that he should offer himself often
as the high priest entereth into the holy place
every year with blood of others,
for then must he have suffered
since the foundation of the world.
What does it say?
Once, in the end of the world,
he hath appeared to put away sin
by the sacrifice of himself.
So he appeared one time,
put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
So he was that sacrifice.
He didn't have to take the blood of anything else.
It was his blood.
So if he would have just walked in with no blood,
is that putting the blood of the sacrifice in there?
No, it's not.
And as it is appointed unto men who wants to die,
but after this the judgment.
So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many.
So if Christ is offered,
there's no offering without shedding the blood.
So these people that say,
no, it wasn't actual blood that was put there,
it's just a spiritual,
it's a spiritual sacrifice,
that's just ridiculous.
We know he bled.
The Bible teaches us he bled.
And like to just say like John MacArthur,
his blood just ran down into the ground,
that was it.
It was just his dying that saved us.
It's not just his dying.
The picture of the Day of Atonement
is there for a reason
because it had to be done literally,
just like everything else that Christ did.
It says,
and unto them that look on him
shall he appear the second time without sin
unto salvation.
Now flip back one chapter
and we've already read this before,
but now after I've said all these things to you,
look at Hebrews 8.1 again.
Now the things which we have spoken,
this is the sum.
We have such an high priest
who has set on the right hand
of the throne of the majesty in the heavens
a minister of the sanctuary
and of the true tabernacle
which the Lord pitched and not man.
So not man.
So he is the minister of the sanctuary,
the true tabernacle,
and that place is in heaven.
There actually is the throne of grace,
the mercy seat up there.
So again,
if Jesus literally had to do all the other things mentioned,
why would the blood of the mercy seat
be spiritual blood and figurative blood?
That does not make sense, folks.
And I don't know about you,
but I think that's proved pretty easily
that if everything else had to be literal,
then these things that we're talking about tonight,
this mercy seat has to be literal too.
And when Jesus did that,
he completed the atonement for our sins
and all those things were required down on earth,
but in heaven, that blood was the only thing
that was required
and it was done one time, once for all,
and we don't have to ever worry about that ever again.
So these people that just act like,
oh, well, I can lose my salvation,
it's like, no, it's just one time.
One sacrifice, one time salvation,
once for all time.
Does atonement last for all time
or salvation last for all time?
And these people that just think that he loves me,
he loves me not, I've sinned, now I'm not saved,
I mean, that's just ridiculous.
That's not what the Bible teaches.
The Bible teaches that he had mercy on everybody.
There's mercy for everyone
and all you have to do is go to Christ to get it.
But a lot of people are too prideful to do that.
So that's the sad part about it.
So when you think about it,
when we can go boldly to the throne of grace,
that throne of grace literally is what Christ paid for.
Anybody can go there.
That's why you can boldly go to it
because it's for everybody.
There's just so many awesome things
about the Lord Jesus Christ that he did for us,
but that is like the crowning achievement, basically,
that obviously everything that he did was great,
but that part was really cool.
And it wouldn't be complete without him
putting his blood upon the mercy seat.
So I have a few more minutes
to go through some of these other things here.
Verses 10 through 16 basically just cover the table
and the dishes and the things like that,
and I have covered that in other sermons,
so I'll skip over that.
But also you have the lampstand
with the gold candlestick,
which is basically talking about something
that kind of looks like this.
I'm sure it didn't look exactly like that.
But it was beaten out of one piece of gold,
and it had seven different knops like this.
It was all made out of one piece of gold,
which is not an easy thing to make.
So, but what does it represent?
What does it represent?
Well, you know, it represents,
go ahead and turn to Isaiah 11.
This is something I didn't get to really last week.
I think I read the verse,
but I didn't really get to cover
too much of this part of it.
So obviously in the New Testament,
we have the seven churches.
There's seven letters written to the seven churches of Asia,
and then in Revelation,
it talks about these seven spirits of God
multiple times in the book of Revelation.
But Isaiah 11 explains to us
about the seven spirits of the spirit of the Lord.
So of course you have the spirit of the Lord.
Look at Isaiah 11 one, it says,
And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots,
and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
and the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.
So, you know, these manifestations of the spirit,
but also, so that's seven spirits of the Holy Spirit,
basically the manifestation of the spirit of God.
But, I mean, if you think about the spirit of God,
you know, when Jesus blew,
he breathed on the disciples,
and he said, receive the spirit of God,
they didn't have the power of the Holy Spirit,
they had the spirit of God in them,
but there's many manifestations of the spirit of God.
You know, like these two guys that are making all these things,
God gave them the spirit of wisdom and knowledge
and the ability to make things,
and sometimes God operates in those ways,
but sometimes he does it, you know,
where there are mighty men,
like if you think about David's mighty men,
do you think that they were just mighty just because,
do you think that they could kill 750 guys at one time,
just by their own skills? No.
The Holy Spirit probably allowed them to have those skills.
Samson, Samson did not kill a thousand men
with the job of an ass through his own power,
the power of the Holy Spirit came upon him
and allowed him to do those things.
But then, of course, the power of God
to save people on the day of Pentecost,
of course, Christ said it's expedient that I go away,
you know, I will send the comforter to you,
and so when he gave his disciples the spirit of God,
they still had to wait for the power to come from on high,
and that power was not going to come until Jesus went to heaven.
So that's why it's expedient that he left,
so that the spirit of God's power could come upon the people,
the ones that are left, which are the priests,
and it's our job to go and be ambassadors for Christ.
But the Holy Spirit, so like if you think about the oil
that goes into the candlestick, right?
Let's go into Revelation chapter 1.
The oil that goes into the candlestick is like pure olive oil, right?
It's like, you know, this pure olive oil,
that's what they use to light the lamp.
There's all different types of oil in the world,
and most of them light.
You can light a match to them and they'll burn, right?
But this type of oil obviously burns,
and you can use it for light,
but it represents the Holy Spirit.
Obviously, that's why it had to be this pure olive oil.
So the Holy Spirit is power,
and oil, you know, everything that we use in this world
has some kind of power source.
I mean, even if you think of it like electricity,
but, you know, you just think about your vehicles.
I mean, oil is broken down and turned into gasoline.
That's what powers your vehicles, you know?
So, you know, when you think about oil,
oil is like a good representation of power.
It's energy that gives things power, right?
I guess that's a better way to explain it.
So when, you know, that's why it's a good representation
for oil to be, you know, a representation of the Spirit.
So when that oil is poured upon you,
that Spirit of God is poured upon you,
and it gives you the energy to be able to serve the Lord.
Now, when it's lit on fire,
then that is like, you know,
when the cloven tongues came upon the people in the book of Acts,
and they were able to speak with other tongues and get all these people saved,
you know, that picture is like the power of God upon them,
because not only do they have the oil,
but they have the fire, they have the power.
You know, like when you start up your vehicles,
there's like combustion that goes on in your engine,
and you don't see that happening,
but in there you've got these rods and pistons that are, you know,
that are making like, you know,
I'm not a scientist or a mechanic or anything like that,
but I've seen pictures of it, okay?
I've seen the commercials about when you don't have oil in your vehicle or whatever,
but anyway, but they make this power,
and that's what powers your vehicles.
That's what, you know, so like the Holy Spirit's representation of oil and fire,
those are great representations of the power of God.
And so, now, when he writes these letters,
so from Isaiah chapter 11, 2,
it tells us all these different spirits of God,
and then Revelation 11, or excuse me, 1, verse 4,
where I had you turn, it says,
John to the seven churches which are in Asia,
grace be unto you, and peace from him which is and which was and which is to come,
and from the seven spirits which are before his throne.
So these seven spirits are manifestations of the Holy Spirit,
so he's writing to seven churches,
he brings in these seven spirits,
Revelation 3, 1 says,
And unto the angel of the church and Sardis write these things,
sayeth he that hath the seven spirits of God,
and the seven stars, I know thy works,
that thou hast a name that liveth and art dead.
So, Revelation 4, 5 says,
Now the throne proceedeth lightnings and thunderings and voices,
and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne,
which are the seven spirits of God.
So it just keeps talking about these things in the book of Revelation.
You know, what gives the churches power is the Holy Spirit.
And the congregation of the Lord meeting together
with the power of the Holy Spirit energizing us is what gets things done.
And so this manifestation,
this talking about the seven spirits to the seven churches,
and Jesus Christ has all those manifestations of the spirit,
so that's why it says,
Thus saith he that hath the seven spirits of God,
Jesus Christ was filled with the spirit of God without measure
when he was here on the earth,
and obviously still is.
So, Christ is the one that is in the midst of the churches.
He's in our church services.
He sees what goes on.
He's a part of our church.
He is the head of our church.
And so we should be trying to seek to do the things that do please him.
But that's what this lampstand represents, though.
It represents that power of the Holy Spirit in the sanctuary of the Lord.
And look, the tabernacle of God is with men.
The Holy Spirit resides within men.
It doesn't reside in a building.
This was the Old Testament.
That's where he chose to put his sanctuary or whatever,
but now that sanctuary is within us.
And then when we meet together,
the power of the Holy Spirit,
when we come together, we are the church.
That's not some dude on TV saying,
Put your hand on the hankie on this TV or whatever.
People say this universal church stuff.
It's just garbage, folks.
We're not part of a universal church.
We will be someday in heaven.
You know, the Church of the Firstborn up in heaven.
We're all together.
But that's in the future.
Now, we have to be guarded against these types of things.
Being ecumenical.
It seems like, oh yeah, we should all just work together.
And I've heard churches say that.
I've heard pastors say that.
I get invitations from pastors all the time,
asking me to come to their little conferences and come.
I've even had people ask me to come and speak,
but I guarantee you, once I start speaking,
they're not going to like what I have to say.
They just don't realize that.
And, you know, if I could preach whatever I want,
then I probably would preach,
but I doubt very seriously,
you know, when it has female pastors being named
as part of the keynote speakers,
I just, I'm not going to be combined together with apostates.
You know, I'm just not.
So, look at Revelation 5-6.
Look, Revelation 5-6, it says,
And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne
of the four beasts, in the midst of the elders,
stood a lamb, as it had been slain,
having seven horns and seven eyes,
which are the seven spirits of God,
sent forth into all the earth.
And, obviously, this is talking about a time,
but, you know, I believe that the seven spirits of God
are sent into the earth now.
You know, but are people allowing,
you know, the Holy Spirit to work through them?
Are churches actually doing what they're supposed to be doing?
Not really. Not a lot.
I mean, obviously, there are some,
but I'm sure there's maybe even thousands that are doing great.
But, you know, in countries all around the world,
I mean, I preached about it in Scotland.
I mean, they're toast.
They're like, you know,
I think someone just explained about how,
my God, it was Pastor Shelley who was explaining,
like, when it says Babylon has fallen,
it's like, you know, something falls off a cliff
and they're not quite to the bottom yet.
They're just in that stage where they're still falling to the end.
They've already literally fallen,
but they just haven't hit the bottom yet.
That's kind of where America's at right now.
It's kind of where the churches are at today.
You know, they just haven't gone splat yet, really,
is what it boils down to.
And obviously, we can have great revivals,
and, you know, great men of God can stand up
and preach great truths,
but we're really in a bad state right now
where all these crazy things are happening,
and, you know, people are talking about Israel
and all this other stuff,
and when I saw those rockets flying over the top
of, it was just the other day,
but, like, I really haven't seen anything else about it,
so I don't know if that was just, like, a big hype or something.
Did Iran really, like,
it didn't seem like those rockets did a lot of damage,
like, maybe it was just, like,
a time for them to put out their rap music or something.
Huh?
It intercepted most of them,
but it was, they were, like,
what I was seeing on the news was, like,
yeah,
when I was hitting stuff, I was like,
that's not really doing a lot of damage.
Yeah.
Right, but they were saying,
these are going through the Iron Dome,
and, like, it was showing them, like, hit houses,
but maybe that was just fake, I don't know.
That's why, like, it was like,
I don't know, man.
If I'm not hearing anything about it the next day,
it must have been kind of a nothing burger or something,
but people want it to be true, though,
because people just want to usher in the end times,
like, no matter what,
and, you know, we got to,
the Bible says woe to them
Like, obviously, I want,
before the day of the Lord to happen,
but to desire, you know,
just all this destruction and people to go to hell,
I don't desire that.
I want to save as many people as I can
before that all happens.
So, the Bible says that,
you know, the Spirit of Christ, you know,
the Spirit of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy,
so I want to still keep
preaching with that Spirit,
and I want, you know,
the Spirit of Christ to be preached.
Obviously, we have a great truth to preach
that He paid it all,
and He put it all on, you know,
when you talk about putting it all on the altar,
Jesus Christ put it all on the mercy seat for us all.
So, that's what we need to keep preaching,
and who cares about all the other stuff, really,
until it all really actually starts happening.
So, the last thing is the,
you know, it talks about the Holy Anointing Oil,
and that's just talking about,
you know,
that Holy Anointing Oil
also is a representative
of the Holy Spirit,
and really, they use that to
anoint the priest,
anoint, you know, certain things,
anoint the
kings and the
preachers and stuff like that.
Obviously, in the New Testament,
Pastor Mendez didn't dump
oil on top of my head or anything like that,
but we do,
I do practice, like if someone's really sick,
and are having a hard time recovering,
I think it's a special thing,
but like the Bible talks about,
you know, that you bring them to the elders,
and pour oil on them,
praying for them,
and the prayer of the sick,
you know, the prayer
will save the sick, and all that kind of stuff.
So, I believe that that's still something we do,
and you're like, well, is there something special
in the oil? No,
but doing what the Bible says, there's something
special in that. So,
I don't think there's anything magical
about the oil. I think
what's right and true is what
the Bible says to do. Bring them to
the elder, pray for them, pour
the oil on their head, and then
pray for them to recover. If there's
any sin they've committed, it'll be forgiven of them,
and so on and so forth, but as far as
like the Old Testament anointing,
where they would crack open the oil and pour
it on people's heads, that's not just
a, that's just not a thing, but
when you get ordained, like Pastor
Mendez ordained me, he put his hands on me, and
blessed, and blessed me, and you
know, and so that's what I do
when I ordain people. I pray for
them, their ministry would be blessed,
they'd be blessed, their family, and all that stuff.
And so,
I guess the New Testament version
of that holy anointing
oil would just be
you know, laying hands on
someone and ordaining them, or
actually literally doing it for the sick.
So,
that's basically it for
Exodus chapter 37,
and hopefully
maybe you learned
something new about the whole
mercy seat thing.
Now, as to whether
there's an actual throne
right there, I mean, I
don't know. This is just
a representation
of what people interpreted in the
Bible. It doesn't say that there's a
like a literal chair there,
but I mean,
the Bible does say that he sits on the throne, so
I mean, it wouldn't surprise me
if there wasn't, you know, a
throne of some sort there. So,
anyway, let's pray. Lord, we thank
you so much for the Bible and all of
its truth, Lord, and we thank you so
much for Jesus who made
that atonement for us, Lord, that
we could all be saved and that we can
count on and trust in
and believe and have faith
in his blood, that it covers
every single sin we've ever done
and ever will do, and Lord, that we
can take that faith and we can share it with others
and we can
show them that there's great mercy
at the throne of grace,
Lord, and I pray that you just help
us as your children
and your believers and your people
to carry out
the Great Commission to others so that they
can have that mercy and grace. Also,
pray that you just bless us as we go our separate ways.
Bless the rest of our weekend that our
soul wanting would be fruitful,
and we thank you for everything that you do for us, Lord.
In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
Song number seven,
I gave my life for thee.
Let's sing it together on the first.
I gave my life
for thee
my precious blood
I shed
that thou might
ransom me
and quicken
from the dead.
I gave
I gave my
life for thee
what hast thou
given for me?
I gave
my life for thee
what hast thou
given for me?
My father's
house of light
my glory
circled throne
I left
for earthly night
for one
for wandering
sad and
alone
I've left
I've left it all
for thee
hast thou left
all for me?
I left
I left it all
for thee
hast thou left
all for me?
I suffered
me more than
my tongue can tell
of
vitreous
agony
to rescue
thee from hell
I've borne
I've borne it all
for thee
what hast thou
borne for me?
I've borne
I've borne it all
for thee
what hast thou
borne for me?
And I
have brought to thee
down from
my home above
salvation
full and
free
my pardon
and my love
I bring
what hast thou brought
to me?
I bring
rich gifts to thee
what hast thou
brought to me?
Amen, good singing brother Robert
would you close the water prayer?
Thank you